Human Resource Policies - Essay Example

? Human Resource Management Question Introduction This part of the study would deal with the discussions of domestic human resource policies and multinational human resource policies. It would be discussing the similarities and the dissimilarities in both the policies. The human resource policies are a framework of confined decisions taken by the organization for supporting the performance management, administrative personnel functions, resource planning and the employee relations. Every organization has varying set of events and circumstances and they develop a different set of human resource policies for managing various activities. The human resource policies help the organizations in demonstrating both externally and internally whether they are meeting the requirements for ethics, training and diversity as well as the commitments associated with the regulations or the corporate governance (Weick, 1995). The objectives of the project is To understand the importance of domestic human resource policies and multinational human resource policies. To evaluate the similarities between domestic human resource policies and multinational human resource policies. To evaluate the dissimilarities between the domestic human resource policies and multinational human resource policies. Definitions National human resource policy frameworks encourage and support the human resource development procedure within the domestic organizations. It enhances the role of the human resource development for increasing the knowledge and skills of the employees thereby developing higher workplace capabilities (Boddy, 2008). It provides framework for the complex functioning within the organizations. The policies help in the development of human resource materials for ensuring consistency and high quality performance. These policies are also effective in supporting and creating the required organizational culture. The human resource policies adapted by the multinational companies for expanding the international sales are known as multinational human resource policies (Rao, 2007). The growth of these organizations along with their expansion in the emerging markets includes immense pressure. It is very important for these organizations to recognize their human resources as they are equally important as the financial assets for maintaining sustainable competitive advantage. Most of the multinational companies do not have effective leadership capital that is required to perform with efficacy in the markets across the world. One reason behind it is the lack of the managerial mobility. It is here that the multinational companies require human resource policies for solving various issues. The human resource policies help in ensuring that the careers of the employees are developed in terms of both employability and profitability. The multinational companies previously lacked the confidence in the functioning of the human resource department in screening, reviewing and developing the employees for the important designations within the organization. The human resource policies have set a systematic framework for the improved functioning of the organizations in all these aspects. The multinational companies have to adjust with the different cultures in various parts of the world. Maintenance of the policies mentioned in this systematic framework would help in the adaptation of different cultures and coordination with different people belonging to different cultures in various parts of the world. Similarities The human resource policies in domestic as well as multinational organizations have many similarities in their framework as well as functioning. Based upon the goals, objectives and business strategies of these organizations, the human resource policies are framed for ensuring that the human resource has the talent of meeting the performances and objectives of the organizations. The successful companies, both domestic and multinational, hire their employees very selectively by sourcing the candidates from a wide pool of applicants and investing in the development of all the employees. The focus on the talent involves hiring, recruiting, staffing, developing talent, training, developing capabilities, assessing, integrating, motivating and retaining the skilled talents across the organization (Thussu and Freedman, 2003; Ruppel, 2010). The domestic as well as multinational companies perform all the recruiting and staffing functions effectively for meeting the objectives of the organizations with increased efficacy. The human resource policies also include rules and regulation for efficient succession planning process. Performance management is another important area that has been given great emphasis by the domestic as well as multinational organizations. The human resource policies state that every organization should plan for a performance management system in order to stimulate the performances. The HR policies also help in organizing various training and developing programs in both domestic as well as multinational organizations in order to ensure the fact that the companies have the ability of meeting their performance objectives and changing skills with time for competing in the dynamic global market. The human resource policies also shape the culture of the organizations in both cases where specifically the policies help the multinational companies in adapting to the cultural changes in different parts of the world. The human resource policies take into consideration the fact that the behaviour of the employees remains consistent with the values of the organizations. In today’s world, the multinational companies are relying to a great extent on the external partners and as a result they enter into joint ventures, merger or acquisition for ensuring increase in the growth and innovation of the organizations. It is here that the human resource policies play an important role as it helps in establishing an environment which would support the coordination between all the employees from different culture. The policies also determine that the compensation and benefit strategy of all the employees remain aligned with the business strategies, culture, goals and objectives of the organizations (Leonard, 1994). Development of a positive working culture by means of the implementation of the human resource policies help in providing equal employment opportunities to all the employees, maintaining the consistency and fairness in the treatment of all the employees and enhancing effective communication system within the management and the employees. Following the human resource policies help the organizations, both domestic and multinational, in reducing the employee disputes by maintaining the fairness and transparency in their performances. Dissimilarities There are several problems faced by the multinational corporations in terms of their working culture which differentiates their human resource policies from the policies of the domestic organizations. The multinational companies recruit employees from different cultures where it becomes difficult to establish synergy between all the employees in the organization. This acts as a barrier in the efficient functioning of the organizations. The human resource policies for the multinational corporations have to be very strict in order to reduce the cultural challenges. One of the cultural challenges faced by the multinational organizations is diversity in the cultural perspectives found in these organizations. The diversity causes several problems in respect of the management or policy development as it becomes difficult for the organizations to plan for company-wide policies by taking into consideration the different cultural viewpoints. The second challenge faced by the organizations is the difficulty of establishing a unified culture within the workplace. It is due to different cultural perspectives in an organization that the human resource policies framework faces severe challenge in developing a human resource with a unified cultural approach. The concept of teamwork and unity has various meanings across the national borders which further creates a barrier in creating a unified working culture. The multinational companies set their human resource policies that have been successful in the domestic markets instead of setting policies for the cultural inclinations in the new markets that have been entered. This has a negative impact on the performances of the employees in the organization as the cultural differences provide severe challenges. Another challenge faced by the organization is the inability to set effective communication at all levels of management in the workplace because of the cultural differences (Greenberg and Elliott, 2009). Every business is dependent on effective communication procedure (J. E. Hale, Dulek and D. P. Hale, 2005; Lyu, 2012; Phillips, 2013). The communication lies at the core of the business operations. Any issue related to the business communication process slows down the operational activities within the organization and affects the performance. The organizational culture should introduce two way communications to let the information flow in upward as well as downward direction (Veil, Buehner and Palenchar, 2011). Let us take into consideration that a multinational corporation has set up the workplace culture based on the cultural perspective of the home country where the organization is actually located. But it is a natural scenario that the culture of the individuals in the country where the subsidiaries are located is entirely different. In such case, the communication at different level of management is very difficult. This reduces the performance of the business enterprises as well. The human resource policies of the multinational corporations must be set by considering all the possible issues which might arise due to cultural diversity and the resultant ineffective communication. However, these challenges are not faced while framing the human resource policies of the domestic corporation which actually sets the difference between the two policies. Summary National human resource policy frameworks encourage and support the human resource development procedure within the domestic organizations. The human resource policies adapted by the multinational companies for expanding the international sales are known as multinational human resource policies. There are a lot of similarities in the general framework and functioning of the human resource policies of both domestic and multinational corporations. However, there are various dissimilarities in the human resource policies of these two types of corporations. The multinational corporations face difficulties in the establishment of a unified culture within the workforce which leads to crisis communication (Taylor, and Perry, 2004). This slows down the performances of the organization. Reference List Greenberg, J. and Elliott, C., 2009. A cold cut crisis: Listeriosis, maple leaffoods, and the politics of apology. Canadian Journal of Communication, 34, pp. 189-204. Hale, J. E., Dulek, R. E. and Hale, D. P., 2005. Crisis response communication challenges. Journal of Business Communication, 42(2), pp. 112-134. Lyu, J. C. 2012. A comparative study of crisis communication strategies between Mainland China and Taiwan: The melamine-tainted milk powder crisis in the Chinese context. Public Relations Review, 38, pp. 779– 791. Phillips, B., 2013. Crisis communication. Financial Executive, April, pp. 47-49. Taylor, M. and Perry, D. C., 2004. Diffusion of traditional and new media tactics in crisis communication. Public Relations Review, 31, pp. 209-217. Veil, S. R., Buehner, T. and Palenchar, M. J., 2011. A work-in-process literature review: Incorporating social media in risk and crisis communication. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 19(2), pp. 110-122. Weick, K., 1995. Sense making in organizations. CA: Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Rao, V. S. P., 2007. Human Resource Management. 2nd ed. New Delhi: Excel Books India. Boddy, D., 2008. Management, An introduction. Edinburgh: Person Education Limited. Thussu, D. K. and Freedman, D., 2003. War and the media: Reporting conflict 24/7. London: SAGE. Ruppel, W., 2010. Not-for-profit accounting made easy. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Leonard, B., 1994. CEO compensation packages tied to performance. HR Magazine, 39(4), pp. 1-51. Question 2 Introduction This part of the project would be dealing with the importance of international training and induction programs. One of the main factors taken into consideration by the individuals working in an organization is high training and development programs which would help them in achieving huge experience. Execution of training programs in an organization is very important as it helps the employees in developing their skills and knowledge which in turn improves the performance of the organizations. Definition An expatriate is an individual who is permanently or temporarily residing in a country where his or her upbringing did not take place. It is very important to conduct training and induction programs for these expatriates in order to help them to accommodate in the new workplace. It is very important to conduct effective training programs for these expatriates in order to help them in handling the international assignments successfully. Discussion U Curve of Adjustment- When an organization begins internationalizing, it starts facing issues related to the use of the expatriates in the foreign operations. When the organizations send their employees overseas, most of the expatriates do not have the idea related to ‘their appropriate and effective behaviour’ in the host country. Thus, it is very important that these employees are provided with a period of learning associated with that particular country’s business when assigned for working overseas. The cross-cultural adjustment training is a theoretical framework which is very useful in this case. The U-Curve adjustment theory is the most commonly used theoretical framework to solve these issues and help the expatriates in adjusting with the work culture overseas. Cross Cultural training: The adjustment to any new culture includes a slow and step by step process that is facilitated by the cross-cultural training method. In this case, the pre-departure training is general in terms of culture whereas the post-arrival training is very specific for host culture. Language training: The language training is provided to the expatriates in order to help them in learning the languages used in the host country. It would also reduce the communication issues arising due to the linguistic problems. Experiential training: Well designed and properly executed experiential training has a significant impact on the organization and the employees. By engaging the emotional as well as the intellectual side of learning, the participants in the training program are totally engaged in the context of the present job. They enjoy the learning process and become directly indulged in those skills which are easily transferrable to their job (Harikumar, 2012). The experiential training helps in improving the organization in a number of ways: It Increases the employee motivation for learning and improving. It accelerates the procedure towards achievement of the business goals. It develops synergy and provides shared ownership of the organization’s goals. It reduces the resistance to an effective change. It sustains as well as increases the retention of the training and learning process. Attribution training: Attribution training is a successful training approach. The training program includes attribution of strategy and ability with the effort. It helps in increasing the capabilities of the employees in an effective manner. Cultural awareness training: Miscommunication within the organization might cost the business time as well as money. Thus the communication should be effective at all levels of the management. It is due to this reason that the organizations should develop a unified culture and help the employees in adapting to such culture by means of various training programs. This helps in reducing the barrier associated with the cultural differences. General Training- The general training method focuses on the general survival skills required in the workplace for sustaining and continuing the work. Every organization sets own requirements for the entry of new employees. The training is provided to further enhance the general skills possessed by the employees. Mandatory Training: In every organization, human resource training is mandatory, specifically for the supervisors and managers. Preparation of the training program is crucial in this case. It is also mandatory to provide training related to the job descriptions which would help in engaging them within the organization in an appropriate manner. Reading out the laws, policies and frameworks of an organization does not constitute as the training actually. It includes discussions, illustrations and examples from the real world which would increase the knowledge of the mangers, supervisors and other employees within the organization. Job training: Job training helps in increasing the skills and knowledge of the employees for improving their performances on the job. It might include training related to the manufacture of the products or services or information related to the machines and their handling etc. The purpose of the job trainings is reducing the inefficiency in the performance. Training Evaluation: Evaluation of the training is an important component in the entire training program. It helps in providing further information which would improve the training course and create an image of completeness. It helps in evaluation of the success of the training and whether further improvement is required. How does Training & Induction Program help in improving the Succession Planning and return to the Company It is very important for the organizations to plan for effective training programs as training is a crucial activity for the growth or development of these businesses (Stone and Stone-Romero, 2008). Training programs help in training the new candidates as well as the old employees in further sharpening of their existing skills and knowledge. It helps in aligning the interests of the employees with the rules, regulation, mission and vision of an organization. The training programs prove to be fruitful for the organizations as well as their employees. It develops and improves the morale of the employees working in an organization. It is a well known fact that appropriate training and induction program helps in reducing the extent of supervision upon the employees (Plant and Ryan, 1992). According to the case study, a new senior manager has been hired and sent to Middle East for 24 months with an expectation that if the company performs well then the manager would be given an extension of a further 24 months in the same project. Thus it is very important to conduct proper training and conduction program in order to provide him information about the working pattern and other related details. It provides the new employee with an induction to the working environment as well as the setting up with the employees in the organization. This would help the manager in adapting to the work environment and the work process very quickly. The training programs conducted for the existing employees at regular intervals for further improvement of their knowledge and skills which in turn would improve the performance of the company and help it in improving the chance of succession placement (Simons, 2011). It also would provide high return to the company. Every organization plans for some kind of training programs for training the employees according to their needs or requirements (Thomas, Deshmukh and Kumar, 2008). Effective training methods would help the company in improving its performance and achieving the targeted position in the market. Methods of training On the Job Training: On the job training generally refer to those trainings which train the employees about the everyday working. This type of training is highly cost effective and comparatively simple in nature. The main motto of providing this type of training is to provide learning while working. It involves instant coaching of these employees for training them. The examples of on the job training include: coaching, temporary promotions, job rotation etc. Off the Job Training: Off the job training refer to those types of training that are given from the working conditions. It is generally used while training the new employees. This type of training method is costly but it is highly effective in nature. In this type of training program, proper training is given for a specified time period and then these employees are introduced in the work force. The examples of off the job training include conferences, seminars, workshops etc. for the new employees. Summary As already discussed above, when any organization internationalizes, it faces various issues related to the use of the expatriates in the foreign operations. When the companies send employees across the national boundaries, then maximum expatriates have to face several challenges as they do not have knowledge about the ‘appropriate and effective behaviour’ in the host country. Execution of the training programs helps the employees to develop and strengthen their knowledge and skills which in turn improves the performance of the organizations. Various training methods have been discussed which would help in the successful execution of the training procedures. These training and induction programs would help the new senior manager in learning the work culture and the other related factors of the host country. It would help the company in improving its performance and achieving the targeted position in the market. Reference List Harikumar, N., 2012. Employee engagement – An evolving journey. [online] Available at: < http://www.shrmindia.org/category/blog-topic/employee-relations> [Accessed 31 October 2013]. Thomas, B., Deshmukh, U. M. and Kumar, K. P., 2008. High performing organizations. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. Stone, D, L. and Stone-Romero, E, F., 2008. The influence of culture on human resource management processes and practices. America: Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. Simons, R., 2011. Human resource management: Issues, challenges and opportunities. Canada, CRC Press. Plant, R. A. and Ryan, R. J., 1992. Training evaluation: A procedure for validating an organization's investment in training. Journal of European Industrial Training, 16(10), pp. 1-22. Read More